ROME, Sept. 18 - The Vatican has published a meticulous account of Pope John Paul II's final days, vividly describing his last hours and providing an official chronology of his death.
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A Mass was offered in his room on the morning of his death, April 2, At 3:30 that afternoon, "with a very weak voice and mumbled words, in the Polish language, the holy father asked 'let me go to the house of the Father.' " Just before 7:00 p.m. he slipped into a coma, and "according to a Polish tradition, a small lighted candle illuminated the gloom of the room, where the pope was expiring," the report said.
Archbishop Stanislaw Dziwisz said a final Mass, and at 9:37 p.m., the 84-year-old pope died while a crowd of thousands prayed for him outside in St. Peter's Square. John Paul's doctor ran an electrocardiogram for 20 minutes to verify his death, the report said.
From today's NY Times. Read the whole thing here.
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